Korean Youci
01 · Historical Records
Korean ethnic Yutnori, also known as "sagi" (the four-stick game), is a collective traditional board game passed down among the Korean ethnic community. In the 1860s, Yut was brought to Northeast China by Korean immigrants; it is now distributed in Korean-inhabited areas such as Liaoning, Heilongjiang, and Jilin provinces, with the widest transmission and highest popular uptake in the Jilin area. Korean ethnic Yutnori is generally played between the Spring Festival and the fifteenth day of the first lunar month each year. When playing, team members take turns throwing the yut sticks: the cut face up is "fan" (flipped), the cut face down is "pu" (flat), and each team calculates its score from the number of flipped and flat sticks among the four yut after they land. The equipment of Korean ethnic Yutnori is simple to make and the rules are easy to understand, with no restrictions on place, time, age, gender, or number of players, making it highly popular, entertaining, and convenient. In a game of Korean ethnic Yutnori, reversals of fortune are highly likely, and a losing side can still win even at the last moment; players must therefore work together throughout to achieve final victory. Korean ethnic Yutnori is a mass-participation collective project, historically transmitted mainly within families; the community of transmission consists of Korean people organized as groups or family units. Beginning in the 1980s, transmission through schools and community organizations was added. Korean ethnic Yutnori is a traditional game with strong regional and ethnic characteristics and a rich accumulation of history and culture; it is of great significance for enriching the forms of China's traditional folk games.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Its equipment consists of three main parts: the yut sticks, the board, and the playing pieces. The yut functions as dice and consists of four half-cylindrical wooden blocks. The board is made up of 29 stations, and each team has four pieces. Scoring works as follows: with the four yut sticks, three flat and one flipped scores 1 point; two flat and two flipped, 2 points; one flat and three flipped, 3 points; all flipped, 4 points; all flat, 5 points; and a yut stick bearing a special mark on its cut face appearing alone scores minus 1 point. After the game begins, the two sides move their pieces according to the score thrown with the yut sticks; the side that first moves all four pieces to the end wins. As a team competition, the game requires members to show solidarity and cooperation and to help one another in order to achieve good results; it plays a positive role in strengthening the bonds among family, friends, and neighbors, enhancing ethnic confidence and pride, and promoting social harmony and stability.
The three parts of the set
The set comprises the four-stick dice, a board of twenty-nine stations and four pieces a side, cheap to make and easy to learn.
Scoring by face and back
Half-cylindrical sticks landing cut side up count as turned, down as flat: one turned scores one point, two score two, three score three, all four score four, none score five, and the marked stick alone loses one.
Twenty-nine stations and the winning race
Play moves by the score thrown, and the first side to bring all four pieces home wins.
Played from New Year to the lantern festival
Played between the lunar New Year and the fifteenth of the first month, the game sets no limit of place, time, age, sex or number.
Household and school transmission
Long transmitted within households, since the 1980s the game has also been passed on through schools, now with seven clear generations.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Korean ethnic Yutnori, also known as "sagi" (the four-stick game), was brought to Northeast China by Korean immigrants in the 1860s; it is now distributed in Korean-inhabited areas such as Liaoning, Heilongjiang, and Jilin, with the widest transmission and highest popular uptake in the Jilin area. The Jilin City Korean Ethnic People's Art Center is the designated protection unit. The game is generally played between the Spring Festival and the fifteenth day of the first lunar month each year. Historically it was transmitted mainly within families, with the community of transmission consisting of Korean people organized as groups or family units; beginning in the 1980s, transmission through schools and community organizations was added. Because reversals of fortune are highly likely in the game — a losing side can still win even at the last moment — players must work together throughout to win, and the bonds among family, friends, and neighbors are deepened through such play.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The clearly documented lineage of intergenerational transmission has now reached the seventh generation.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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